In a recent Game Design Challenge, you were tasked with defining the cues and clues that would enable a player to solve a level, more specifically, a prison cell.

This particular challenge had the added benefit of preparing some readers for future job interviews, as the challenge itself was inspired by an actual question from a game designer job interview.

Observations
What was this challenge really asking you to do?

For one, you had to think like both a game designer and a player simultaneously, a feat that requires a fair about amount of practice before you can do it well. As a player, it's easy to point out things you find frustrating about a game level -- but are you able to walk in the game designer's shoes and create a context that both challenges and amuses the player? It's hard.

The second thing this challenge asked you to do was consider this question: "How does the player know how to progress forward in a game?" Sometimes the answer is a painful deus ex machina. Other times a player is physically and literally cut off from moving backward. And other times, the player is drawn forward. What are those drawing forces?

Third, the challenge required you to consider how you might speak to an interviewer. Not everyone decided to travel too far down this path, but the submission that took this week's honorable mention did it particularly well.

Best Entires
Donald Squires, recent graduate of ITT Tech and aspiring game designer or level designer, The Multi-Solution Approach [see page 2]
Donald Squires' submission did one thing exceptionally well: give the player choices. He maps out three clear solutions for the player, and each solution has several variations, letting the player do what she wants to do rather than what the game designers want her to do. Squires' integrated use of a mini-game was spectacular.

Tamar Goldberg, The Oubliette [see page 3]
Tamar Goldberg takes second place this week for answering two questions very thoroughly: What is the player supposed to do, and what will the game do to help the player figure out how to do it?

Goldberg also explains how the game will adapt and help the player more the longer she is in the cell. She even adds a failsafe - for a price, the player has the option to give up and be shown the answer, allowing her to just get on with the rest of the game.

The Oubliette solution is strong because it considers different players' abilities and adapts to them.

Louis Fontaine, MSc AI student at the University of Amsterdam, You're Getting Warmer! [see page 4]
Louis Fontaine, who goes by Protector one on the forum, takes third place this week for taking a risk. Fontaine's idea is to use a hot and cold thermometer, in the vein of the old saying "you're getting warmer" when the player is near a useful object or other kind of clue.

"This hinting system might make the game a little too easy (I haven't done any prototyping), but I expect it would at least suit a children's game," he writes.

I agree. It might not work. But a good time to brainstorm ideas that may or may not work is in pre-production phase, when there's no product at risk yet.

This Challenge was a theoretical question designed to be used in an interview to gauge how the job candidate thinks, and Fontaine should be rewarded for deciding to take a risk and play with an untested idea. I doubt all job interviewers will agree with me, but some will surely see the value in a candidate who is willing to try out all kinds of ideas in risk-free theoretical situations, rather than stick to the tried and true.

Honorable Mention
Sharon Hoosein, Carnegie Mellon University, Taking Charge of the Interview [see page 5]
Sharon Hoosein took this question by the horns and completely took control of the interview. Bravo. The submission mentions a familiar game and critiques it, citing specific evidence throughout. Hoosein also lets the interviewer know quiet clearly that she is an avid gamer -- and interviewers desperately want proof of that. When you read the piece, pay attention to how Hoosein names a specific problem and then suggests a clear solution -- problem-solving skills at work!